August 31, 2002
AP
Photo: Rescue personnel run toward a burning bus after multiple explosions targeted buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheba.
JERUSALEM — Two buses exploded in a southern Israeli city on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 20, in the first major Palestinian attack inside Israel in nearly six months, Israeli media and rescue officials said.
It was not immediately clear whether the explosions were set off by suicide bombers, or by bombs detonated by remote control.
The buses went up in flames almost simultaneously near a main intersection in the center of Beer Sheba, the largest city in southern Israel.
Minutes later, police reported a third explosion, but rescue workers said it was a false alarm.
Israel TV showed images of the two burnt-out buses, with flames shooting through the roof of one of the vehicles. At least two bodies, covered in white sheets, lay on the ground nearby.
Photo: Smoke rises from the wreckage of a bus in Beersheba southern Israel in this image taken from television Tuesday Aug 31, 2004.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Israel Radio said Palestinian attackers had carried out the attacks.
Palestinian militants haven't carried out a major attack inside Israel since March 14, when 11 people were killed in the port of Ashdod.
The attack prompted Israel to assassinate the spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said "the Palestinian Authority condemns any attacks that target civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinian."
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army caught a Palestinian man strapped with explosives as he tried to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Beer Sheba is 25 miles west of Gaza City.
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